During her own unhappy, real-life hospital inpatient experience, Barbara experienced an “epiphany” about patient satisfaction. She decided that hospitals and health care organizations needed a person who understood health care to bring them unbiased, unvarnished, detailed and real-time feedback about how patients and visitors are treated when they call or visit.

Her passion and drive to make the health care experience better for patients and their families drove Barbara and Devon Hill Associates to forge ahead despite resistance from hospitals and doctors. Today, Devon Hill Associates’ faux patients are engaged by hospitals, clinics and health care organizations to visit their clinics, emergency rooms, outpatient surgery centers and inpatient units where they undergo testing and care. Barbara recently expanded her service to include mystery nurses who will apply for jobs as a means of testing a hospital’s nurse recruitment process.